July 2007

Growing With Gray's

A Seasonal Gardening Newsletter For The Willamette Valley

It's the Summer Festival of Blues!  Enjoy specials on BLUE plants, shrubs, trees, gifts, pottery...

You won't be blue as you enjoy savings in every department!    ...and many sale items aren't even blue!

 Contents:   Blues Festival Specials   Keeping Planters Looking Great    Green-Lawn Summer Tips    Blues For Your Garden   Events    More Specials

 (Just click on any topic and go right to it!)

  Keep Your Planters and Baskets Looking Great! 

 Here are some tips for keeping your baskets and planters going:

Water and Feeding - Once the temperature first hits 85 we water twice per day.  With the roots consuming more of the pot, they tend to dry out quickly.  It is vitally important that they get watered every day too. Additionally, most annuals require a lot of nutrient in order to produce massive flower power, so we feed our baskets a lot.  Be careful not to burn them by putting too much in at once, but increase the frequency and you'll get better performance. 

Pests - though there are many pests, aphids are the most common and troublesome in our area.  We use a systemic insecticide applications throughout the season to prevent aphid infestation.  While they are treatable, normally they do too much damage before they're recognized.

Disease - powdery mildew is the most common problem effecting annual planters.  Again, a preventative systemic is best, but it can be treated as soon as it shows up.

We use and recommend Fertilome Triple Action+ for insect and powdery mildew control and we use Fertilome Blooming & Rooting Soluable for feeding our baskets.

 

We still have a great selection of hanging baskets and planters and they're all 30% off! thru 7/31

Gray's Festival of Blues Plant Selections 

Salvia guaranitica "Black and Blue" is a South American native known for it's black stems and brilliant scarlet flowers
	Salvia x Sylvestris 'Blauhegel', a perennial with clumps of wrinkled, scalloped leaves and tall stems of bright blue flowers.
Salvia caradonna is composed of dark purple stems clothed with felty green leaves. In midsummer, the clumps are topped with dramatic upright 2' tall spikes of vivid blue-violet
	Shirley's black mondo grass is a perennial (pun intended) favorite both for landscape and containers and goes great with blue!
Caryopteris Sunshine Blue is an awesome, strong growing shrub with bright gold foliage.  It is a great contrast plant that will add season long color to the garden.  Sunshine Blue would be a fine choice for a shrub even if it didn’t bloom!  But bloom it does, and profusely, beginning in late summer bold spikes of rich blue blooms up to 6 inches long cover this plant.  #3 reg. $34.99   now $25.00
	Adonis Blue butterfly bush has deep blue flowers of good size and with a delightful fragrance, with a more horizontal form, tending to be wider than tall.  Roughly a third the size of other butterfly bush varieties, Adonis Blue is part of a new English Butterfly Series.  Adonis Blue flower size is equal to those of tall growth habits.  Save 20% off English Buddleia
Endless Summer is the first hydrangea to bloom on both old and new wood, for large colorful blooms virtually all season long.  Endless Summer is a big leaf hydrangea with large blooms up to 8 inches across.  #2 reg. $34.99   now $20.00     #5 reg. $49.99   now $39.99
	Everyone has heard of a Venus Fly Trap (shown) but we have a great selection of very interesting carnivorous plants and they're 20% off for GPG members! (even though they're not blue)

 We still have a great selection of annual and perennial color!

Summer Tips For A GREEN Lawn

It's time to feed your lawn.  It is important to use a quality slow release fertilizer to avoid burning and for longer lasting green.  There is none better than Gray's Premium Lawn Food - it's guaranteed to give you the best looking lawn, period.  For a complete description of our lawn feeding program, click here - it's easy to apply and the results cannot be beat. 

Watering tips:  While EWEB and many experts recommend that you only water your lawn once per week at a rate of 1" of water, the truth is that only works if you have relatively good soil conditions - and most of us don't.  Once your soil becomes compacted, which can happen as soon as a year or two after planting your lawn, it simply won't store enough water to look good watering only once per week.  So, try watering 1/2" twice per week or 1/4" three or four times per week.  You'll be amazed at the difference and you won't use any more water.

 Summer Blues Festival Specials